Middlesex Women travelled to the Neville Ground in Tunbridge Wells for the latest round of matches in the Women's County T20 yesterday, where they faced two matches against Buckinghamshire Women and Kent Women, played back-to-back on Sunday afternoon.
Middlesex Women v Buckinghamshire Women match report - Middx won by 25 runs
First up was the clash with Buckinghamshire, starting at 1.30pm, and Middlesex skipper Issy Routledge won the toss and elected to bat.
Routledge played a real skipper's innings and led from the front, playing a crucial anchor role that provided the glue that held the Middlesex innings together.
As wickets fell around her, Routledge remained composed at the crease, and very nearly carried her bat through to the end of the innings, before eventually falling in the 20th over for a fine knock of 55 at a little over a run a ball, scored off 53 deliveries.
Useful runs from Natasha Miles (39 off 27), and Hannah Taylor-Yeates (20 off 22) provided valuable support as Middlesex posted 130 for 4 in their allotted twenty overs.
In reply, Buckinghamshire batted aggressively from the outset, and were going at over ten an over when the opening partnership was broken, with the score on 22, as Gayatri Gole got the breakthrough.
A forty run second wicket partnership saw Buckinghamshire keep up with the required run rate in their chase, and at the halfway stage their reply was in good shape, on 62 for 1.
Middlesex needed wickets to slow up the chase, and thankfully they came quickly, with Anisha Dissenayake making the breakthrough off the first ball of the eleventh over, before striking again two balls later, to reduce Buckinghamshire to 65 for 3 at the end of the 11th over.
With the Buckinghamshire batters' resolve now broken, Middlesex's bowlers took advantage and turned the screw, and a flurry of wickets over the next few overs saw the reply falter, coming to an end off the final ball of the innings, with Buckinghamshire bowled out for 105 runs
Both Gole and Dissanayake finished with two wickets apiece, whilst Layla Judge, Mariko Hill, Rachana Cambampaty and Riva Pindoria all finished with one wicket apiece.
It was a comprehensive 25 run victory for Middlesex, who secured their third win in five games in the T20 competition.
Middlesex Women v Kent Women match report - Kent won by 3 runs
Next up were Kent, at 4.30pm, who won the toss and elected to bat first, meaning that we would face another twenty overs in the dirt having only just left the field against Buckinghamshire on what was a hot and humid afternoon.
A breakthrough from Layla Judge in the fourth over reduced Kent to 15 for 1 and gave early hope, however it proved to be Middlesex's only success until the 14th over, when Routledge picked up the wicket of Sturge - by which time the hosts had reached 97 for 2.
A further breakthrough from Pindoria in the penultimate over reduced Kent to 128 for 3, before Kent lost their fourth wicket off the final ball of the innings, as Coco Streets was run out for a fine knock of 69, scored off 58 balls.
With Kent posting 137 for 4, Middlesex's target was 138, and Saskia Horley and Natasha Miles headed out to the middle to open the batting.
The pair added 26 for the first wicket before Horley fell for 18 off 11 deliveries in the 4th over. Routledge was then disastrously run out for a duck off the very next ball with the Middlesex score on 26 for 2.
Middlesex needed a partnership, and Miles and Pindoria set their minds to rebuilding the innings, adding a further 37 runs before Pindoria was stumped for 23 - Middlesex 63 for 3 off 9.4 overs.
Three quick wickets saw Middlesex's reply set back, as first Lucy Porter, then Natasha Miles, and then Gayatri Gole, fell in the space of three overs, as the chase stuttered to 85 for 6 from 14 overs.
A recovery took Middlesex close, as 10 off 9 balls from Mariko Hill and 6 off 5 from Georgia Irving kept Middlesex in the hunt, but is was a fantastic unbeaten 29 off 22 balls from Taylor-Yeates that really kept the hopes alive as we finished the penultimate over on 129 for 8, needing 9 runs to win off the final over.
Alas, Taylor-Yeates could only muster a single off the first three deliveries, and Dissenayake a boundary and a single, as we fell agonisingly short by just three runs, seeing Kent secure the victory.
After this round of results, we move to third in the group three table, just four points behind Hertfordshire, with Sussex a further 20 points ahead as group leaders.
The Women are next in T20 action on Sunday 11th August, when we take on Sussex and Suffolk in another double-header fixture, this time at Haverhill Cricket Club.
